Cat's In The Cradle
by otherrealmwriter
Summary: A story of Professor Membrane's family and how he left them at 18. He still talks to his baby sister who later delivers tragic news about his estranged father.
1. All that we leave behind

I don't own Invader Zim. After an idea in the review admizgr8 in A Father's Scars, I wrote this. Prof. Membrane's name is T.J. so you aren't confused. Read A Father's Scars to get the back story.

August 1977 

"Dad I'm leaving and never talking to you again!" T.J. Membrane yelled at his father. He was off to NYU for college. "I hate this place. I hate you!" These last words struck Reverend Timothy Jonah Membrane in the heart like an icicle. He couldn't bear the thought that his firstborn son didn't love him. Of course since T.J. was 7 they had fights over their beliefs. The young Professor Membrane couldn't see the explanation behind creation and how all these things in the Bible happened like the parting of the Red Sea or how putting mud on someone's eyes could heal them. It wasn't scientific. Reverend Membrane however said that you didn't need an explanation for everything; not everything was logical.

"Not everything makes sense Thaddeus. Look at our hair." Reverend Membrane said motioning his pointy hair that was as tall as his son's but pointed straight back while T.J's was in an m shape.

"It's T.J and it's DNA! That's why! Our hair is stiff and the Membrane family produces a grease that is like styling gel that freezes our hair this way! Why else would mom be the only normal one there?"

"There you go with your need for logic." Reverend Membrane said. " Things don't always make sense! Like your attitude right now!" Professor Membrane's father's ears were growing redder and a vein was pulsing in his forehead. You knew when he was mad, but T.J. looked cool and composed. A smirk exactly like Dib's came across his face while he stood in the Las Vegas heat in jeans a Led Zeppelin T-shirt and a white nose high open lab coat. "Too late Timothy Membrane. We just share DNA." and he spat at his father's feet, got in his black '67 Mustang and drove off flipping off his father.

"Thaddeus..." Maryann Membrane, his mother cried. She shielded as many of the 4 younger Membrane children, Franklin, Martha, Joshua and Danielle as she could. Danielle just stood watching the street. Her favorite brother was gone, maybe forever. He would always take her for rides, pick her up from school and stand up for her when kids made fun of her for her hair which looked like Gaz's only black. Now she'd have to stand up on her own two feet and judging by how he acted he would never talk to any of them again. "Mommy I'm gonna fail science! The kids'll make fun of me! Who will drive me to the toy store now? Who will make sand angels with me now? No one! T.J. was nice!" Then the anger that rose up in Membrane women when they were hurt rose she closed her eyes because of it. " He stopped the ice cream truck and bought me the biggest chocolate cone!" Tears ran down her cheek. "He told me about the cacti and pulled out the spines I had stuck on me!"

"Well Franklin could help you." Maryann suggested.

"He's not as good as T.J. He made stuff blow up." Danielle stated.

"Don't remind me. Well he can drive you in his Vista Curser." Her mom suggested.

"T.J. had a cool car." Danielle pouted.

"Look your brother was a bad seed! Satan got a hold! He didn't believe us. He never got saved and renounced his baptism we had him go through at the age of 4!" Reverend Membrane said yelling at Danielle. If T.J was lost he wasn't going to lose any of his other children. "My poor damned son. And I'm not about to say," My poor damned son and daughter"! You should hang out with Franklin more. Or you could talk to Martha or play with Joshua at school."

"Franklin's a bore. Martha only talks about boy and how she likes a guy at school named Russ who beats on band geeks and plays with bottle rockets a grade ahead of her. And so you know Russ is like T.J in the fact he renounced his mom's faith but all of them stopped going and his parents are cool about it!" Danielle said making a fist.

"How do you know that? I have to talk to Martha about her taste in boys." Reverend Membrane said. Danielle rolled her eyes. She knew more than Martha thought she did. She talked on the phone for hours in her and Danielle's room while Danielle tried to sleep.

"Martha is wearing make up and taking diet pills and not eating her lunch at 13!" Danielle pouted trying to get her brother's room. "Can I move into T.J.'s old room?"

"Why?" Her father asked.

"He was my favorite brother, no favorite sibling!" She said stomping her foot.

"No I should get it! I'm second oldest!" Franklin pleaded. "You promised that I could!"

"I said 2 people would have their own room." Timothy Membrane said.

"Have Martha share with Joshua or let Franklin ride out the 2 years he has left till he graduates!" Danielle whined. "Besides, you hated T.J! You wouldn't be able to stand the hole in the floor or the roof! That and it smells like iodine and you hate that! You said so yourself!"

"Fine let Danielle have it. But it will remind you that Thaddeus will never talk to you again." Franklin taunted. He hated how Danielle would hang out with his older brother, the scientist.

"Okay Danielle you can move into Thaddeus's old room." Maryann agreed. Danielle ran in and noticed the remains of her brother. This was all she had left, the experiment ruined room. On the nightstand was a pad of research notes and she noticed one thing, a picture of T.J and her on the Merry-Go-Round at Circus Circus. The picture looked like a 17 year old Dib and a happy 5 year old Gaz but it was all she had left. "T.J. I miss you already." She sobbed.

Meanwhile after a few days drive he soon arrived at New York City. Once he got there the soon to be Professor Membrane got his dorm assignment and his new roommate, Simon Simmons. He took his stuff crate by crate to the room. At the end of one excursion he dropped a crate full of books on his galoshed foot.

"Goddamnit!" He yelled and winced as though to be smacked.

"Relax man." Simmons said.

"Sorry Maryann of Timothy, my parents, smacked me for that." He said.

" Name's Simon. Simon Simmons. Everyone calls me by my last name." Simmons said.

"Thaddeus Membrane- don't call me that it's T.J.. I hate my first name. My friend calls me T.J." T.J. said.

"Friend?" Simmons asked.

"My baby sister Danni actually Danielle." He said showing Simmons a family portrait and he was flipping off the camera and Danielle was sticking her tongue out.

"She's nice." Simmons smiled.

"I miss her." He said sitting on the bed putting his face in his knees. " I vowed to my parents that I'd never talk to them again nor Franklin Martha or Joshua either. But Danni, I don't want to ice her out too."

"Don't. Write to her once in a while." Simmons said.

A few weeks later Franklin drove up to Saint Theresa's School for Little Girls and frowned while the other girls smiled. She was sucking her knuckles and sometimes she'd see a memory of her brother's black Mustang. Alas it was only Franklin's Vista Curser.

"Get in." He said in his school uniform. "What did you do?"

"Said the pillar of cloud and fire in the Moses story was a spaceship." Danielle said.

"You're just likeThaddeous! Get over it! He's damned!" Franklin yelled.

"He's T.J.! And he isn't damned. Maybe you are!" and Franklin smacked her.

"Hold your tongue! You want to be scarred like him!" Franklin yelled.

"No." Danielle pouted and Joshua ran over, the boys school was next door.

"Your sister's nuts." Franklin said to Joshua.

"She's your sister too man!" Joshua said repulsed and Danielle cried until she got home where she ran into her room, T.J.'s old one and slammed the door. At this her mother came in.

"Danielle-." She started. "Mom its Danni!" Danielle cried. "- anyway you got a letter from your no good brother." Danielle tore it open and read it.

"_Dear Danni,_

_I miss you already. Be good and by that I mean do what is right in your eyes._

_Stand up for yourself. I made a new friend Simon Simmons but he likes to be called Simmons. School is fun and hard. I sent a picture of me in my dorm. I started to wear gloves because I hate my scars. Hold your tongue at the right times. Oh and ignore your brothers and sister. Write back if you can!_

_Love, _

_Your brother T.J."_

"T.J..." She sobbed tears on the letter and put it in the nightstand.


	2. Holiday remorse

I don't own Invader Zim okay?

T.J. Membrane watched the snow fall outside of his dorm room. It created a sense of wonder on the stone gray city called New York. No matter how much he tried to fight it, he wondered how the rest of his family was doing, not just Danni, who was feeling really sad from what she wrote. The letters were heart wrenching. Often she would write about how her parents yelled at her for not paying attention in Sunday School, how she was developing scarred knuckles like him and how Franklin would smack her for her different beliefs.

T.J. just stared out his grimy dorm window and let out a tear of loneliness fall from his small green eyes. He pulled his lab coat over his head so Simmons wouldn't see. He was an 18-year-old man. Men weren't supposed to cry over missing their 6-year-old baby sister.

Simmons came in and T.J. heard him so he laid down on his bed and feigned sleep. In actuality he was staring at the family portrait taken last Christmas. That was the annual tradition to get a picture taken in their Sunday best. This year he'd be out of it.

_Las Vegas..._

"Danielle come on!" Her mother shouted as Danni slipped on a green dress with red holly berries embossed on the front. Then she put on her tights and Mary Janes and walked out. She had a sad scowl on her face that made her hair look more like a claw.

"Let's go." Reverend Membrane said shoving everyone into a wood paneled station wagon, driving to the Sears portrait studio.

"Hey Dad I smeared my lipstick!" Martha said as pink lipstick went up her cheek.

"Brat." Danielle moaned.

"Twerp!" Martha said shoving Danielle, who shoved Martha back into Franklin. Martha tried to get a steady hold and grabbed Franklin's blonde pointy hair that was like a scythe but it was more like a permant cowlick. It was looser than his father and brothers' hair. She pulled out the trademark Membrane pointy hair and Franklin yelled in pain

"MARTHA!" He yelled then looked in the rear view mirror. "Thanks. I no longer look like a freak."

"Can you guys next time you fight, maybe pull out my hair?" Joshua said hopefully he hated his hair too.

"No. Yours is exactly like T.J.'s. "M" shaped and stiff, it just doesn't rise as high." Danielle said looking at Joshua's pointy blonde hair.

"Crud." He said kicking his mother's seat.

"Joshua cut that out!" His mother said as she pulled Martha to her and licked a napkin to clean off the smeared lipstick. "Young lady when we get home we're taking all your make up and throwing it in the trash."

Martha writhed and squirmed as her mother cleaned her face like a child. She was the only Membrane child with hair completely like their mother's. Franklin's was similar but still pointy.

"We're here!" Timothy Membrane said as he got out of the car. Franklin then got out followed by Martha on the right and Danielle got out on the left after Joshua.

They walked into the store and went to the photographer. He sat Joshua on the platform next to where Franklin was standing and he sat Danielle on the platform next to where Martha was standing. T.J. Membrane always stood in between his parents but since he was off in New York, it was only Timothy and Maryann. Nobody noticed Danielle but if they did, they could see her sorrow.

"Okay...1...2...3!" The photographer said as he took their picture. " You should get them within the week."

"I want to send one to T.J.!" Danielle pouted.

"He wouldn't care. He hates all of us." Martha sassed.

"Yes he would." Danielle said to herself.

Once the portraits cam back Danielle took one and in her room wrote her brother.

"_Dear T.J.,_

_I miss you so much. Everyone here hates me. I don't think Joshua does as much as Franklin and Martha do. Franklin keeps calling me 'damned' and 'a freak' and Martha calls me a little twerp. I haven't heard from you in a while. Well I sent you this year's family portrait. Merry Christmas._

_Lots of love,_

_Danni."_

Then as she took it to the mailbox at the dead of night, she noticed her mother's scrapbooks. There was one for each Membrane child. She found her brother's and took it to her room. _Not like they care about him anyway._ Danielle thought as she looked at the album. Most of the pictures were before she was born but even as a little boy, T.J. seemed very sciencey. There was picture of him at 5 holding a pair of socks. But as she looked on she saw a 12 year old T.J. with a little baby in his arms. It took her a while to realize that the baby was her.

_New York University a few days later..._

"Hey T.J. you got some mail for once." Simmons said. "The return address says Danni Membrane"

"Danni?" He asked taking the letter. It was Christmas Eve and he didn't care much. When he was 5 he asked Santa for 12 cases of Uranium 238 because he didn't know then it was his parents and got socks instead. He opened the letter and saw Danni's sullen face.

"Danni..." He said crying.

"Listen T.J. there's a Christmas party in the girls dorm and this girl Joan invited me and told me to bring a friend. Wanna come? It'll take your mind off your sister." Simmons thought it annoying how he moped about Danni.

At the party Simmons yelled, "Told you you'd love it!" while making out with Joan and downing a beer at the same time. T.J. didn't love it and was talking to a girl named Sharee in the same situation.

"Danni was best if not only friend. I mean I hung out with this pyro 4 years younger than me but that was if I saw him. Most of the time, I just hung out with her." T.J. moaned sipping Egg Nog.

"That's so sad. It's the same way with my brother Alan. He looked up to me and now he's all alone." Sharee said downtrodden. "This is our first Christmas apart."

"Do you still talk to him?" T.J. asked.

"Yes I write weekly and try to call him too." Sharee said.

"Damn! I forgot Danni! I swore I'd write to her ! Gotta go!" He said kissing Sharee's cheek subconsciously. He never planed on doing it but he ran back to his dorm.

"T.J.! Wait up!" Sharee said running after him. "Where are you going?"

"Any place open at 10:58 pm Christmas Eve." He said looking at his watch.

"7-11 probably is but why?"

"You had a point, I should not forget Danni especially with the shit my family's putting her through." He said putting on his coat. "Damn it's cold."

"Well this isn't Las Vegas. New York is more like where I grew up, in Boston" Sharee said putting on her coat staring into T.J.'s green eyes. "I'm coming with you."

"Why?" T.J. asked. No girl ever liked him before even though he drove a black '69 Mustang.

"Because you're sweet." Sharee said as she kissed his cheek. T.J. then spotted a souvenir stand and bought Danni the only thing he thought she'd like, a little snow globe of New York City. "Danni'll love it."

It was a few weeks later and Danni shook up the snow globe with a pensive face. Her brother was gone and having fun without her. The room now had poster of UFOs and other paranormal phenomenon but the science ones left by T.J. were never taken down. They were a memorial of him and Danni clung to the memories. Every day she would check the mail box for any letters from him from New York. They would come once a week, then once every two weeks, then once a month, then every few months until they just stopped coming.


	3. Falling Apart and Back Together

I don't own Invader Zim okay?

"Geesh T.J. you work yourself to death. Come on! No way can you be doing yourself any good! You're addicted to that coffee and Sharee is pretty mad at you. She's a good chick for putting up with your BS for 2 and a half years but she told me she's ready to dump your ass." Simmons said as he woke up at 1:00 in the morning to T.J reading yet another book from the campus library. This time it was on the new emerging computer technology.

"SHUT UP!" He said twitchy from his 10th cup of coffee in 3 hours. "If you don't get serious Simmons, you'll end up just an assistant while I become the greatest scientist ever!" T.J. said dramatically pointing a shaky finger in the air. His hair was frazzled and disheveled, which for a Membrane was extremely hard to do to their hair.

"Well if you don't relax, you'll kill yourself by 1989, when you're 30. Every pre-med major is worried about you. You have been acting like this ever since you stopped writing your sister." Simmons said "Now it won't kill you to take a break! Gimme those!" He took the books and put them in his gym bag. "Now there, you will not want them now. You don't come within 10 feet of my gym bag."

"Well duh, you don't wash anything in there." T.J. said covering his nose from the stench, ready to puke.

"Exactly. Now get some rest before you suffer from caffeine overdose or exhaustion." Simmons said.

"GIMMIE BACK MY STUFF!!" T.J. yelled in a rage.

"Never!" Simmons smiled.

"Gimmie!"

"Gimmie Gimme never gets." Simmons taunted as T.J went for his neck ready to strangle him but Simmons was quicker. He took the Bible that his girlfriend Ruth gave him, as it was the first hard thing he found, and hit him upside the head with it. A loud 'thud' was heard as T.J dropped to the ground unconscious. "Whoops." Simmons said putting Membrane's body onto his bed. "I didn't do it." He said in case anyone had heard the fight.

It was late morning the Saturday after and Sharee was staring angrily at her boyfriend's sleeping body, tapping her foot annoyed. As T.J. stirred, she started the speech she had for him.

"T.J.! What happened to Central Park yesterday? I was waiting there for 3 hours. Do you know how stupid I looked standing there all by myself? It was 7 at night when I got back. I was going to talk to you about it then but when I got here Simmons told me that you were at the New York Public Library AGAIN! You keep ignoring me. I was staying with you because I cared about you and I loved you." Sharee said as a few tears came to her eyes. She knew she had to break up with him, but she didn't want it to be over. "I thought you cared about me. I guess I was wrong. You know Ruth was right, you don't care. You won me over but I was a cheap prize to you. It's all your fault. All you care is about proving to your father you're right and showing him up. Apparently all you care is that you want to show up everyone in your family-maybe even Danni!" She knew this would get him to think about what he was losing. "Your sister was the one that kept you sane. Well I can't fill that void. You need to get a life."

"I have a life. I am going to be the greatest scientist ever!" T.J. said as his temper rose. This was not in the way he yelled with his father but this was different. He did love Sharee and he cared about her but in his mind she was becoming more and more distant and never appreciated him.

"At what cost Thaddeus!?" Sharee said pulling out his first name, knowing he hated it, to prove she was getting mad at him.

"Don't call me Thaddeus!" T.J. yelled as a vein in his forehead pulsing. The room was becoming a heated battle of who was right. As the fight was going on, the volume escalated from annoyed piercing tone to yelling in a bloody rage. T.J.'s tome then dropped to a quiet and dark way. "Some costs I'm prepared to pay."

"Well you're paying in the ones you love. What has your desire to be the world's greatest scientist done to those you care about? Think of me, or better yet-Danni. If the fact is true that your family is being hard to her, she is going to hate you. You were the one who looked after her and showed her brotherly love. She may never forgive you. Like I will never." Sharee yelled at the top of her lungs with a tear heard in her voice. The fight was escalating and the door was open. People heard it and gathered around the doorway. "Sorry I'm not as attractive to you as that science book. We're done. Good-bye." She stormed out of the room in an angered hustle and pushed her way through the crowd. The people's eyes went from Sharee back to T.J. Membrane back to Sharee and back to him.

"Nice. You blew it. Smooth move Casanova." Simmons laughed as T.J. just stared at the hallway that Sharee was no longer in. "By the way jaded, your sister wrote for once.

_Las Vegas…_

Danni sat outside in the warn spring in the Las Vegas Nevada desert. She was working on a school assignment she had for science class. It was her best subject despite the fact that her brother didn't help her anymore. All the years she spent as a little girl helping him out any way that she could and watching him accidently blow stuff up, sometimes on purpose for her amusement, paid off; she picked up on a lot of science and this made her the best in the class like her brother was. Over the past 2 years after T.J. left for college, she began to feel distant from the rest of the Membrane family. _Thank God Franklin's in seminary now. It's just so ironic that a jerk like that is studying to be a pastor. Well if I ever find out where he's preaching, I'll just spoil his fun._ Danni thought as she looked up from her science textbook with a slight smile at the thought of what she could expose about her 2nd oldest brother. _Membranes can be harsh to those who don't think exactly like they want you to._

Franklin was always harsh to her, as long as she could remember, it just got worse now that T.J. was in college because she didn't have anyone to stick up for her and being the baby of the family, she wasn't taken seriously. These facts made her grow quiet over the years. Once Franklin left, she thought she wasn't going to have to deal with bossy older siblings but Martha however, took over the role of bossy and jerky older sibling. Martha wouldn't pick on Danni for her paranormal beliefs and interest in science and different religious beliefs, but she would make fun of Danni for more vain things. Things like her hair and the fact she didn't have many friends and was unpopular.

"What are you doing twerp? Making friends with your science book again? Well I'd make friends with that book too if my hair looked like it was eating my head!" Martha laughed.

"Shut up Martha! Just shut up already! It's not my fault my hair is like this. Besides I wouldn't talk 'Easy Martha'. Isn't that your nickname that you earned?" Danni yelled as she started to sob. At this time Joshua was walking by with a Poop Cola in his hand. Yeah Danielle put Martha in her place. You don't deserve the crud that she and Franklin gave you. Joshua thought as he saw this. He was annoyed with Martha as well. He hated the fact that she acted like an angel around their parents but was a wild and promiscuous girl when they weren't around. Joshua tried to get their parents involved but they wouldn't believe him. Time I spoke up.

"Martha, you shouldn't be talking to Danielle like that. Sure she may be different from you but that is no reason to pick on her. She's not a freak." Joshua said taking a more proactive role as an older brother.

"Easy for you to say pointy hair. I guess the ones with the weirdest hair in this family are nuts. Franklin and I are not." Martha sassed in her voice that suggested that she had a smug, Miss-Perfect attitude.

"You do realize Dad has hair like Thaddeus Danielle, well hers is the feminine version of it, and I have. Are you calling Dad nuts?" Joshua asked with an evil glare. He respected T.J. and Danni and his father but the only admitted that he respected his father for fear of treatment like Danni got. He was not into science or religion on the levels that his father and Franklin were into religion or the level that T.J. and Danni were into science. Joshua considered paranormal investigation was a form of science that tried to explain the unexplainable. Based on what he was taught at school he concluded that that since the beginning of time, science explained the unexplained.

"Well he is out of touch but I don't think he's nuts, just a little too dedicated." Martha said "It's a good kind of dedicated though."

_Yeah Dad is out of touch with what you've been doing._ Joshua thought then spoke up, "Well what makes me, Thaddeus, or Danielle any different? Just because we don't think exactly like you or your clones of so called friends doesn't mean we're freaks, 'Easy Martha'" Joshua said walking over to Danni.

"Hey Danielle what's up?" Joshua asked. "You miss Thad- wait you like to call him T.J.-well you miss him huh?"

"Yeah he was the only one I could talk to." Danni sobbed.

"I know I never said this but I liked him, he was a unique person and was nice. I mean he took me to Circus Circus's amusement park with you a few times. He looked after me to a degree. Well I've been quiet 2 years too long. I just loathe how Franklin and Martha treat you. Now I don't fully agree with you and T.J on some things but you need someone to be your friend again." Joshua said hugging his sister as their mother came out to them.

"Danielle, you have a letter." Maryann said giving it to her. Danni snatched it out of her mother's hand, tore it open savagely and read it.

"_Dear Danni,_

_I am wholehearted and terribly and deeply sorry I haven't written in a while. My break up with Sharee made me think. She and Simmons were right; I have been working myself too hard. Simmons even took the book I was reading about computer technology and threw it in his gym bag to get me to stop. (He never washes anything in there) The librarian wasn't too happy about the smell when I took it back. Well from what I've heard, Franklin and Martha are treating my precious baby sister horribly. Well rest assured that if I ever see them again, they'll pay._

_Love,_

_Your brother T.J."_

Joshua took the letter and read it. "You know I should write to him. I kind of liked him. I have to let him know that you're not the only one who cares about him and let him know he's not the only one looking after you Danni." As Joshua said this Danni looked up at him with a face with a smile and tears of mixed joy and sadness on her face.


	4. Professor Hawstein's Influence

I don't own Invader Zim okay?

T.J. had just stared out the dorm window thinking about all that went on in the past four years. The years of study just flew by faster than he could realize. It was unbelievable. It had been 4 years since he abandoned his family, 4 years since he last saw Danni in person, well 4 years since a lot of things in life. He was no longer a college freshman that approached the world of New York University with bright dreamy eyes but now a serious science student who would be working on his PhD right after graduation. It was a late May afternoon in T.J.'s senior year of college and he was looking over all the notes his science professor, Professor Hawstein had given him about continuing his studies. It was all that he wanted to achieve his dream of the title of Professor Membrane. Simmons had the mail and he peered in on the usual sight of T.J. reading notes and books all the time. He sighed and placed 2 letters on the desk in front of T.J. "Your mom and dad actually sent you something for once." Simmons said with a note of surprise. "Usually the only family member of yours to talk to you is your sister Danni or maybe your little brother Josh." Joshua soon after he stood up for Danni started to send him letters too.

"My parents?" T.J said with a confused look on his face. He was sure that they would hate him after all he said to them about their beliefs and did as a child and the fight they had as he left for college. "Why would they write me?"

"Beats me. From what you said about them, I never got how they acted anyway. Smacking you for saying 'goddamnit'? That's nuts." Simmons said sitting on his bed.

"They were very religious and still are. They said I broke the 3rd commandment each time I did that. They even did that until I left for college." T.J. said as he opened the letter. "Oh god, they still call me by my first name. What's this?" he said as he noticed a letter from Danni. Those ones were the ones that he would read first. While T.J. was starting to read the letter from his parents, Simmons was chuckling at Membrane's first name. "Thaddeus….that's rich." T.J. then shot him a deadly look and Simmons stopped making fun of the name. "Sorry, but it's so funny."

"Don't remind me. Hey, this other letter is from Danni." T.J. said and set the letter down from his parents and picked up Danni's "She's very interesting with her theories on UFOs and cryptozoology, I taught her that word. Anyway, I'm going to talk with Professor Hawstein about her theories. If she shows up at the graduation ceremony, I have to introduce her to him."

"Naïve fool." Simmons said to himself. Professor Hawstein was a scientist who considered anything not documented in the thousands of books he read with concrete evidence to be cacophony. He rejected the ideas of UFOs and monsters like Bigfoot, Nessie and the West Virginia Mothman that Danni studied with a passion.

"What did you say?" T.J asked with a raised eyebrow.

"New shoes! I have new shoes!" Simmons said covering up for the fact he called his best friend a naïve fool. T.J. just looked at him and shrugged. He opened Danni's letter and read it.

"_Dear T.J.,_

_It's been interesting here so far. Joshua has stepped in as a new big brother figure, but he will never replace you. He's been __friendlier__to me__ even though the discussions we have aren't as interesting as the __ones I had with you. Your science professor sounds interesting. Lucky for me that mom and dad said that Joshua and I could come see your graduation. Mom read the letter you sent mentioning it and took it after Josh read it. Franklin is busy with Seminary and Martha is studying to be a __cosmetologist__. Between you and me she's as easy as before. She's just trying to get Dad off her case. Anyway, it took a lot to get Dad to see that paranormal investigation is legit._

_See you in a few weeks,_

_Danni"_

"That's real sweet. You know Professor Hawstein will think she's a nut?" Simmons said with an eyebrow raised.

"No he won't. He's always open to new ideas." Little did he know that he was wrong. T.J. then picked up the letter from his parents with a curious look. He never expected that they would write to him at all. He never did so to them so why should they do so to him?

"_Dear __Thaddeus__-_ why couldn't my mom give me a normal name?" T.J. sighed.

"Shut up and keep reading. Just be grateful the rest of the professors just call you 'Membrane'" Simmons sighed annoyed.

"Fine. _Danielle has told us so much about your work and it sounds very interesting__. But your father worries that you might try to play God when you explained the whole genetic studies you were told about. __Nether__ your father nor I understand what you told Danni, but at times I don't think she does either at times. I don't know if Danielle told you this or not, but we are coming out to New York for your graduation ceremony; I've always wanted to go. I believe that this is the only way your father will go there. He doesn't think very highly of New York City, even though it can be a lot like Las Vegas. Go figure. Well I'm just so proud to see my firstborn son all grown up and graduating college._

_Love,_

_Your Mother__"_

"Holy crap, they do care." T.J. said with amazement as he reread the letter from his mother. Never in his whole life did he think his parents cared about him, what with all they did. He didn't care about them in his conscious mind. That night T.J. went to sleep that night pondering what time could do and all that he had seen.

The next day was a class with T.J.'s favorite professor in the world. He would always arrive about ten minutes early to the class so he could talk to Professor Hawstein, who considered him to be his favorite student. T.J. looked up to him and dreamed of being better than Hawstein. Hawstein would always be willing to teach him about the latest discoveries he had heard about from his scientific colleges and promised to get him in the door with them. Today was the day that T.J. would show Danni's paranormal theories to him. Once he got to class, he walked up to Hawstein who read the notes and theories with interest.

Once he finished reading them he looked up and smiled. "Wow. Your sister is a very good science fiction writer. I mean she really had me going at some parts, like it was something real. There is a lot of continuity in it too." Professor Hawstein said with some interest as he put Danni's notes down. "I also really like the format she used too. But what do I know; I'm a science professor not an English professor. It isn't my thing."

T.J. looked up in surprise. He just heard his professor call his sister a fiction weaver, someone who made all that information up. His loyalties got mixed up within him. "Danni told me that all these events really happened. How can you explain away some of those UFO sightings she mentioned? I happen to trust my little sister." T.J. pleaded not wanting to seem like a nut to his favorite professor.

"Swamp gas, weather balloons, the planet Venus or maybe she saw some test aircraft. Simple as that. These things are not unidentified and mistaken for other things a lot. The human mind tries to explain all that it can in some way or another. Another thing this could be is a cry for attention. You told me all about Danni. She looked up to you, and you also mentioned how she now has your little brother Josh taking your old position as older brother protector. She may try to please both Josh, who is a writer and you who is a scientist." Hawstein interrupted and his one eyebrow was raised to his thinning silver hair. "I admire your loyalty to your sister but you must not delude yourself to make her happy. You have a lot of potential Membrane. You'll make a good Professor Membrane. You will soon be working for that title with your PhD and you can't be making a fool of yourself. Some of the stuff your sister claims is doubtful and hard to believe. Now go grab a seat. Class is about to begin."

T.J. slipped into his usual seat front and center thinking about all he was told. Maybe she was using Joshua as a replacement big brother and if that was the case, she'd act more like him but in an attempt to keep both brothers she loved, she could come up with all the stories with scientific ties in them. _Maybe it is all made up. This Danni isn't quite the Danni I used to do my experiments with when she was little. She never told me about UFOs and ghosts when we were younger. When we were younger she was interested in real __science_. _Maybe Professor Hawstein was right; no of course he was right! He has seen a lot more science than Danni has…. _Even though he was able to absorb every word in the lesson that day, his mind was also on how he was going to break it to Danni that he no longer believed what she thought.

"Hey Professor Hawstein!" T.J. called as Hawstein looked up. " Well my family is coming for my graduation."

"That's nice Membrane. I should meet them." Hawstein smiled cordially.

_(Page Break)_

The weekend before graduation, T.J. met up with his parents at the airport. "Oh T.J.!" Danni yelled hugging him as guilt rose up inside him. _Now or never Membrane, tell your sister that you're serious on your career._ T.J. thought as Danni hugged him.

"Hi Danni! I have something to tell you." T.J. said as they headed to his car and Simmons's who was waiting in the parking lot to take Mrs. And Reverend Membrane to the hotel they booked. _She needs to know. If her brother is to be the world's greatest scientist, he can't be lead astray by his sister's plotlines. _"Hey Danni, I told Professor Hawstein your ideas…."

"And…." Danni prompted excitedly.

"And he told me you're making it all up. It kind of makes sense too. You seem to be using Josh as a sort of replacement for me." T.J. said as he reached the words that would tear at Danni's heart. "Now I don't mean to be rude-" Danni then cut him off as she reached up his lab coat collar and pulling a 5' 9" man down to the level of a 4' 11" girl.

"Thank god mom and dad aren't around because what I'm about to say will get me smacked but here goes. You're being a total self absorbed ambitious jackass! I know what you're going to say, 'because my science teacher told me so it must be true.' Well I don't care if you believe me now or not but I have to follow my own path like you did yours. Now if you would stop acting like a dick then let's go and I hope your Mustang's still running." Danni yelled as she punched T.J. for the bluntness of his words.

"Goddamn you can pack a punch." T.J. yelled as Danni ran up to their parents. "I'm sorry if it hurt your feelings." As he said this his mother heard the profanity.

"Thaddeus!" She yelled as she smacked him upside the head.

"Mom! I'm 22!"

"You are never too old to be reminded not to take the Lord's name in vain." Maryann Membrane said as they left.

_Great my mom and baby sister kicked my ass._ He thought as he drove Danni and Josh to the hotel they were staying at for the graduation.


	5. Purple Haired Angel

I don't own Invader Zim okay? If there are any loyal readers of this fic out there, here is the part that I know a lot of people will love; the introduction of Dib and Gaz's mother!

"T.J. you've changed. You are no longer the brother I knew. You used to be cool. You are now just a prick with a narrow mind. You've changed." Danni said the last time she saw him on his graduation. These words went through his mind at any time he had nothing else on his mind. After the thought came to his mind he then pushed it out of his mind and remind himself of what Professor Hawstein told him. She was a little naïve girl according to Hawstein and was not a person that could be taken seriously. A 10 year old girl could know nothing of the real world and would let her imagination run wild. He thought that Hawstein was right and the one that knew it all and could see right through Danni and into her real cry for attention by the paranormal. Hawstein's word was law.

It was an early September morning and T.J. got up from his room in Hawstein's guest house. Hawstein had worked on a bunch of projects that were highly publicized and made a lot of important patents and his books were best-sellers and everything. _I hope I can make it big in science too one of these days. _He sipped coffee while he got ready for his first day as an assistant teacher under Hawstein. Just as T.J. finished his coffee and he finished getting ready for the day, his phone rang.

"Hello. I am running pretty late……" T.J. said abruptly.

"Hey buddy what's up? Haven't seen you in awhile! What's up?" Simmons called from his apartment across town that day as he got ready for his job at a local museum.

"Doing something with my life! That's what's up!" T.J. yelled into the phone.

"Geesh Hawstein's pet! Relax! You're going to kill yourself in 7 years if you're not careful." Simmons sighed. "You are going to end up a life long loner if you aren't careful. I am trying to get my friend back dude. You're just a stick in the mud and no fun." Their differences in personality were straining their friendship badly. T.J. was set in his mind and could not be swayed. However Simmons should have expected that from 4 years of being dorm mates. "Anyway I wanted to call and see if you wanted to come to Central Park this weekend. You can take a break from playing Hawstein Jr you know?"

T.J. paused at the mention of the words "Central Park." That was the date that caused Sharee to dump him for not showing up to it. He loved her and could not find anyone who did like she did. His breathing paused at the memory. "NO! OF COURSE NOT!"

"Geesh, Sharee dumped you 2 years ago, let her go already." Simmons said crunching on some cereal. "You have gotten more uptight lately. Let yourself go. Have fun. Fun never killed anyone."

"And that's where you went wrong in college. That's why Hawstein thinks you'll end up my assistant. Besides, I'm having fun; you just can't see it because it's not your kind of fun." T.J. said and hung up the phone.

"Yeah right. Fun, you're nuts." Simmons sighed as he placed down the phone.

_What a nut. Lost and confused in this world. I just wish Danni would stop being disillusioned like Simmons and stop believing the whole UFO crud and ghost junk. _T.J. though as he put the last of his notes in a briefcase and walked out and took the subway to the University where he noticed Hawstein was awaiting him like a father would a son in the courtyard with a huge smile. T.J. was all he wanted in a son that he never had in real life. He walked over to him with a smile that reminded T.J. of the smile his father on Sunday mornings.

"This is a big step for you. A step forward for you son." Professor Hawstein said smiling and patting T.J. on the back like a father would a son. "A real big step on the road to the title of Professor Membrane that I know you will get and do great things with it. Never forget this day Membrane; it is the first day of the rest of your life!"

"Yes sir… wait did you just call me 'son'?" T.J. asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes I did. I think of you like a son. I never had a son myself let alone children and you are what I always wanted in a son. That is why I already have done so much for you. You have potential that I would hate to see go to waste. I will guide you on the road to success in real science." Professor Hawstein said hugging T.J. like a father would a son once again.

"Wow. Thanks. That's just so… wow." T.J said with his hand behind his back in embarrassment.

"I'm serious. You will go far no doubt about it. Now shall we proceed?" Professor Hawstein said as they walked to his classroom.

That day a young 18 year old girl with long free flowing purple hair like a weeping willow's branches was starting her first year at college with nervousness. She held her books as she walked to Hawstein's class that she needed as part of her pre-med requirements. She walked in and took a seat right next to the one T.J. used to sit in when he was a student. She twirled her hair around her pencil and gave a nervous smile. As the first of her family to go to college she had a lot to live up to to prove that this wasn't a waste of her time to her family. She had told her family for years she was going to be a pediatrician and nothing would change her mind.

"Hey! You there! What's with your hair dye job?" a random senior called to her in the halls.

"It's naturally this way!" Penelope Kedaver said as she opened the door to the class room.

"Yeah like hair can naturally be that weird." The student said. "Wait…maybe it can…" At this he saw T.J.'s 'M' shaped hair. "Is it just me or is this place filled with weird hair?"

"Okay now settle down. Professor Hawstein will be out shortly. He just asked me to take care of some things for him. I want to get the attendance of all of you guys here. Now who is the lovely young lady in the front?"

"Oh! Me? I'm Penelope Kedaver." She whispered quietly to her book slightly blushing at T.J.

"Kedaver? Like those dead bodies?" he asked earnestly.



"NO!" Penelope said speaking up. "It's pronounced Key-dee-aver! Not cadaver! And my surname is not as bad and weird as my hair. My family has had oddly colored hair every so often in the generations!"

"Okay… Professor I'm ready for you to start the lesson. Are you?" T.J. asked

"Yes I am. That was my assistant teacher and soon to be Professor Membrane. T.J. Membrane. Remember that name. Some of you will do great things with him. Maybe even that lovely young lady in front." Professor Hawstein said as he dismissed T.J. to do the work he assigned him.

He sat over to the side along the edge by the teacher's desk taking notes and observations and tallying data collected from Hawstein's work. He would occasionally look up at Penelope with a smile. She was just so distracting but he somehow could focus on his work with thoughts of that purple haired angel sitting in the front of the class. He knew what he had to do but something was driving him away from it. Penelope gave him a feeling only felt somewhat before with Sharee but this girl had something else to her, enough of a magnetic attraction to keep him from being obsessed with his work.

"Good work class. You are well on your way to the road of success in real science!" Hawstein said as he walked back to his desk.

"That was a good lesson." Penelope said as she walked out. T.J. perked up at her voice and smiled but he was brought out of the euphoria. _Oh shit! I allowed myself to become distracted from my work by that purple haired angel. Professor Hawstein will kill me!_

"I'm sorry this isn't my usual work I ummmmm….." _What do I say? I can't say I was staring at Penelope Kedaver! A good scientist doesn't spend his time looking at pretty girls!_ "I'm sorry this isn't my usual standard but you see Sir I ummmmm…….."

"Membrane I can read you like the textbook." Hawstein said quietly. "Penelope has some affect on you. A good scientist needs balance" He saw T.J.'s look like that of a little kid when he thought he wronged his father and Hawstein just smiled.

"I know a good scientist needs balance." T.J. said

"Between work and family Membrane. I can see what you want in that girl. Trust me I know what it is when I see it in someone else." Hawstein said putting papers away.

"Okay sir? What should I do? The last girl I dated dumped me even though I did love her. She said it was because I was more focused on trying to upstage my father than her."

"You have a lot of potential but you will kill yourself inside if you don't go for this girl like you want. Look at me, 69 and never married and no children. Not much of a life in my eyes. Science was my only love but it didn't love me back. Now I believe that to reach a state of perfection in your life you need to make Penelope yours."

"Yeah, but how do I do it?"

"Talk to her, it's as simple as that." Hawstein laughed.



"Okay sir!" T.J. ran out of the room and looked all around for the sight of the girl that made him feel like no one ever did before. He looked around the halls for a glimpse of the girl with hair almost as weird as his. "Penelope! I want to talk to you! Penelope! Where are you?" He scrambled around some more as he ran head first into Penelope "Where are y-ow!"

"My head's up here." Penelope said lifting T.J.'s face up to hers. "You feel in a very awkward place. Good to see you didn't damage my necklace." He looked at the skull on her chest. "Yeah my grandma got it for me as a play on my last name. Next time watch where you're going pointy hair."

"Yeah yeah. Well here are your books." He said picking them up and handing them to her.

"Thanks and what was so important that you wanted to talk to me about?" Penelope asked as T.J. looked into her amber eyes.

"You're pretty! Will you go out with me some time!?" He blurted out before he caught himself and covered his mouth in the shock of boldness

"Wow….I….ummm…sure I guess. You seem rather nice even though you can be rude when you are looking for someone. See you at 7 at that restaurant down the road?" Penelope smiled at him

"Sure. I'll meet you then." T.J. said with a smile as Penelope walked off with a wave and blew him a kiss.

"Wow."


	6. Just Like Judas Kiss

**I don't own Invader Zim okay? Sorry about the delayed update on this. I have so much going on and I just didn't get to it. Huge apologies to my fans of this. Anyway I have managed to work a song by the Christian band Petra into this called Judas Kiss. They lyrics seemed to work. Anyway, you can be the judge of that. Enough with the A/N, on with the fic!**

**Dedicated to my best friend who was there for me for it all and it was he who encouraged me to keep writing. This is for you. **

* * *

"I noticed you got Penelope to go out with you. Just remember-balance. Like in the case of chemical equations." Profession Hawstein said.

"Both sides need to be balanced." T.J. replied.

"Yes. And do you know what you are balancing?" Professor Hawstein asked.

T.J. paused and took a sigh. It was going to be his love of Penelope and his love of science. Deep inside he knew he was going to be a great scientist and make sure of it. Yet he also didn't want to spend all day in his labs because he didn't have anyone to go home to. He wanted someone to love him for him and not just his contributions to science. His hair and scientific studies didn't make him very popular in high school and he couldn't find a date very easily. His reputation at his private Catholic school seeped into the public schools and he was branded a weirdo for life. Then in college he ruined his chances with Sharee. Penelope was his one last shot. She was something else. She wouldn't make fun of his hair, as hers was just as unusual. _Professor Hawstein is right. I need to balance work and Penny. If you want her, remember that! _He thought as he walked back to his apartment placing his books on the kitchen table and sighing. He flopped back on his couch and pondered, "How am I going to impress her?"

He turned and looked at his clock. It read 5 pm. _I got to meet her at 7. God this is so confusing. _He told himself. He laid back and continued to stare at the wall wondering what she would think of him. He was the one Hawstein fawned over, yet he was always sort of a dork. He was first in line to get the Apple computer sitting on the desk. Now the girl of his dreams wanted to see him. It was a paralyzing thought. "Well I best get ready."

Meanwhile Penelope was in her dorm room getting ready. She looked in the mirror brushing her long purple hair. Her roommate stared on in confusion. "Why in the world would you like Hawstein's assistant? He's weird."

"Oh he's nice. Membrane seems like a fairly nice and fairly smart guy." Penelope said grabbing the hairbrush close to hear heart.

"Whatever, I shall never get your taste in men" Her roommate sighed and went back to her work.

Penelope looked down and picked up her skull necklace. She put it on and her black dress highlighted the skull even more. She was ecstatic. No one ever paid attention to her in high school, coming from her rural area in Pennsylvania. She was made fun of for her naturally purple hair and became somewhat of a loner. However she found her place in her church. The children loved her, leading her to want to become a pediatrician.

"Back later Karin!" Penelope yelled as she shut the door.

"Yeah, whatever Penny." Karin sighed.

"Don't call me Penny!" Penelope yelled on her way out. She walked with an excited yet nervous step. This was one of her first ever real dates ever. She couldn't find any men she thought smart that would pay attention to her in high school back home. _Membrane will be perfect for me. _She told herself as she walked up to the restaurant. Once she got there, she saw a bench and took a seat. A cool breeze blew in the autumn air as a few leaves blew by. "I hope he didn't stand me up."

_Oh god, I am so going to be late!_ He thought as he slipped on his gloves, calculator watch and grabbed his key and ran out the door. However, T.J. was rushing from his apartment to the restaurant, fighting the nightmare called "New York City Traffic". He drove a fast as he could to get there before 7.

"Membrane!" Penelope yelled. "I knew you wouldn't stand me up!"

"Miss Kedaver" T.J. smiled. "May I escort you inside?"

"Sure." Penelope smiled holding out her arm. T.J took it and led her in. They found a table as a waitress from the Diner came over.

"Welcome to the NYC Diner. Can I start you off with something to drink?" She asked.

"Mr. Peppito." Penelope said.

"Same here." T.J. said as the waitress wrote down their order and left. "I see you like Mr. Peppito too?"

"Yeah I grew up on it. I was raised in a rural part of central Pennsylvania. Not much to do really growing up. I mostly helped out with the children at church. Sort of the reason I wanted to be a pediatrician. So yeah I am a premed major." Penelope said sipping her soda. "I really love kids."

T.J choked a little on his soda but smiled back. _Smooth. You always seem to pick the girls that want families. Oh well, Penny and I can work that out eventually. Maybe working in pediatrics will change her mind. _"So what do you want to do when you graduate? I mean what do you plan to do with a pediatrics degree?"

"I have seen what childhood disease can do. I have also seen many kids get poor treatment due to their family's inability to pay or something like that. It's not fair. They are just little children." Penelope said. "That happened a lot in my home town of Newport. I mean my cousin's best friend nearly died from a severe case of Chicken Pox."

"Wow. " T.J. said seeing the cultural difference they had from suburban Las Vegas and urban Newport Pennsylvania.

"Yeah. It got to me." Penelope sighed. "It got to me so bad. You know I was ecstatic when I got my full scholarship from NYU. I feared that I may have to become a stay-at-home mom to some mechanic or something like that."

"Well you're going to be a great pediatrician." T.J. said.

"Anything you want to eat lovebirds?" The waitress asked tapping her notepad annoyed.

"2 pieces of cherry pie a la mode please." Penelope told her. "Well you know all about me, what about you? Oh what does the T.J stand for?" She looked into his eyes with desire. She loved him so much. It was like a dream come true and she wanted to know more of her Casanova.

"Okay Penny-OW!" He rubbed his nose and traced Penelope's hand back. He looked at her face in annoyance "What was that for?"

She looked at him with the utmost annoyance. "Do. Not. Call. Me. Penny. That name Penny is an insult to me."

"Okay, why?" T.J. asked.

"Because what do you use to pay for cheap bubble gum?" Penelope said.

"Pennies" T. J. nodded.

"Right and pennies are only 1 cent. They are tossed aside like nothing. I don't want to be tossed aside so easily." Penelope said

"You know the story of the Odyssey right?" Penelope asked.

"Yeah Odysseus's wife was named Penelope." T.J said.

"Exactly. My mom named me after her. I always sort of hated the name Penny. It's too cute and simple. I like something smart and had a lot of thought put into it." Penelope sighed as the waitress brought over their pie.

"Thank you." T.J. said as Penelope nodded in agreement.

"I really like cherry pie." Penelope said. "My mom made the best pie in all of Newport. This Diner doesn't do too bad a job either."

"It's good. I never had the pie here before." T.J sighed.

They ate their pie in silence for a little bit while T.J. waited to explain his situation. He was not proud of his family. _Membrane is a scientific surname; why the hell is my father a pastor then? _When the pie was half gone, Penelope repeated her question, "So what is your family like, where are you from?"

"I am not proud of them at all. I was distant from them since I was 7. My father was a pastor and it just annoyed me so much. I am not religious in the least. Anyway I was the oldest of 5 kids. My brother Franklin just became an ordained pastor and is assistant pastor at my father's church. Then next in line is my sister Martha. She's very promiscuous. Currently she is working as a waitress and a showgirl behind my father's back. Then there is Joshua. He is very mature and I can stand him. He was there for Danni after I left and he is religious but he is not annoying about it. Finally there is my baby sister Danni. She is my favorite sibling. She understands and is nice. She is studying paranormal science. I really wish she wouldn't, Professor Hawstein says it's full of crock."

"I don't think so. I mean all science was thought as 'full of crock' until it became accepted." Penelope said. "I don't feel like a religion vs. science war right now. Well why does everyone call you T.J.? With names like Franklin and Martha for your siblings, I doubt you were given T.J."

"I hate my name. It's Thaddeus Jonas Membrane. I hate it. I have everyone call me T.J." He ate his last bit of ice cream before finishing the rest of the pie. "I miss Danni so much. She had promise and each letter she sends is sadder and sadder. I want to tear Franklin and Martha limb from limb if I ever decide to set foot in Sin City ever again."

"Your riff between you and your father is doing a lot of harm." Penelope said "Have you heard anything from Danni lately?"

"No." T.J. sighed. He knew he should. Danni needed him and he knew it. He just brushed her off and tossed her aside as he tinkered with his computers and his experiments under Hawstein. His face went from happy to melancholy in a heartbeat causing Penelope to put her hand on his.

"Talk to her. Try to make amends with your father." Penelope said. "No matter what, I love you. I do wish you could get in good with your parents again.

"I know. I wonder how Danni is doing" T.J sighed.

"You know there is only one way you can find out." Penelope whispered kissing his cheek.

* * *

(_Las Vegas)_

Danni sat alone in her room as usual when Joshua was at the young journalists club at his school. She had books open all over T.J's old bed. Each book had a notebook around it that was filled with notes and charts and diagrams about the paranormal. Under her "Religious Theory for Sixth Graders" textbook was a copy of Rocking Rock sent to her from T.J. after she saw the latest "Illinois Jhonen" movie. She was beginning to show her independence and knew it was going to be tough. She took her book bag and went into the living room where she could read and eat Poop Candy Bars her school was selling. She opened her bag and pulled out a WalkDude and played the only thing she like she was allowed, Beethoven.

"Danielle darling!" Her mother called. "Meet me in the kitchen."

"What is it mom. And you know I like to be called Danni" She moped.

"I know how much you like that rock music. I honestly find some of it okay but your father thinks it's the tool of the devil. This took much compromise but I managed to get a hold of a cassette of this rock group, all Christian, Petra. I think you'll like it." Her mother said ruffling Danni's claw like hair. "They certainly have a way of praising Him."

"Mom you know my hair is stuck like this." Danni griped.

"Danielle, stop being so pouty." Her mother scolded. "Now run along."

"Whatever mom." Danni said putting the cassette into her WalkDude and put the headphones around her neck. She dug through her bag and found the book of Chaos Theory and pulled out her notes on the Loch Ness Monster.

_Hmmmmm…. Maybe this does work with Ness. Petra isn't too bad either. _Danni thought writing her notes down in peace until her father barged in.

"**DANIELLE JACKOLYN MEMBRANE!** How many times have I told you to not read those books like that?" Reverend Membrane said "They are against what God says on creation."

"Dad, I haven't read The Origin of Species in the longest time. But consider this one Dad; Darwin himself said the very first life's origin is undetermined. He doesn't know where it came from. You yourself are always saying God's time is different than ours and all 7 days of creation may be God days not human. I did a lot of research on this one. Did you know Darwin studied to be a pastor?" Danni argued. _Remember Danni, you are fighting someone who can't see logic. _

"Sometimes you are too smart for your own good." Reverend Membrane said. As he walked to his study, the words of "Judas Kiss" started to play.

"_I wonder how it makes you feel when the prodigal won't come home  
I wonder how it makes you feel when he'd rather be on his own  
I wonder what it's like for you when a lamb has gone astray  
I wonder what it's like for you when your children disobey"_

Reverend Membrane paused and turned to look at Danni. "Have you heard from Thaddeus lately?"

"No why?" Danni asked closing her book.

"_It must be like another thorn struck in your brow  
It must be like another close friend's broken vow  
It must be like another nail right through your wrist  
It must be just like  
Just like Judas' kiss"_

"It must be like another thorn struck in your brow  
It must be like another close friend's broken vow  
It must be like another nail right through your wrist  
It must be just like  
Just like Judas' kiss" Reverend Membrane repeated to himself. "I wish I could speak to Thaddeus again. Each day is like a nail in my wrist. Like Judas Kiss. The prodigal, my prodigal, won't come home." He sat in his chair with his open Bible and cried.

**A/N: I hope you liked it. I promise I will update soon. Let me know if you want to see any of my other stories updated soon. If you can check them out. Well wishing you and yours a happy 2009,**

**Otherrealmwriter aka Realm**


	7. Favorite Students

**I do not own Invader Zim okay? Sorry for the long wait on the update on this one here. I cannot apologize enough for the late update. Anyway, here it is: the long awaited update to Cat's in the Cradle. I am so ashamed I waited so long for this update. Okay, enough with this A/N, on with the fic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Do not fear dear readers wherever you are, come hell or high water, I am finishing this fic and all of my fics, so do not fret, you will know the ending I have had planned since I first started them! Okay, enough of this PS A/N, on with the fic!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (For real this time!)**

T.J. was looking at the picture he had from his date with Penelope at Coney Island during Spring Break. Ever since their first date a year ago, they grew closer and closer ever since. There were few girls like her in the world that would mean more to him than science could ever could. _If I ever lose this girl, I swear, I will not want to work anymore. Why would I want to make the world a better place if I lose my world? _ He often made trips to Penelope's dorm for some private time together that was often called 'tutoring by Hawstein's assistant'. Many of the students at NYU were getting ready for the finals before they had to go home for the summer. This was the time where he was going to need to help Penelope with her Biology 101 class work, but he would also have to help her with the studying for finals for all her other classes as well. T.J. looked at the picture of him and Penelope at Coney Island eating a hot dog and drinking Poop colas as well. He smiled at the picture and put it back in his wallet and walked down to the women's dormitory in hopes he would find Penelope there.

He packed a few last textbooks into his backpack and headed to the dorm awaiting Penelope. As Hawstein's assistant, many people were asking him what was on the finals, but he stood firm in the idea, that no one would get to see the test before Hawstein issued it. The only one who was going to was going to be Penelope. _ I want her to succeed. I want her to stand by my side as one of the world's most renowned pediatricians. I love her and I do not want to see her sad nor does she deserve to miss out because of how she was brought up and where she is from. Penny,_ Suddenly an image of a really really pissed off Penelope came into mind, ready to smack him upside the head and he shuddered. _I mean Penelope, I should make note of that unless I want to be whopmed like Danni did to me at graduation…_ With this horrible memory of his sister 12 years younger than him beating the living daylights out of him, he found Penelope's dorm room number. The past was past and he was heading on with his future. He knocked on the door to Penelope's dorm room and sighed.

"Hello?" A girl said as she looked at the peephole of the door.

"Hi!" T.J. said as he wiped his sweat off his face gulping. Penelope had told him that her roommate Karin hated Hawstein's class. She was an Anthropology major and she hated Hawstein with a passion. T.J was just as bad as Hawstein in her eyes. What made her want to shoot T.J with her father's Police revolver was that he was going after her best friend Penelope. "Is Penn-I mean Penelope there?"

"Who are you? State your purpose for visit!" The girl said with a rather spiteful eye to the peephole that T.J. was feeling the piercing stare of Penelope's roommate. _Shit, it just had to be her!_ T.J thought.

"I am…" _Quick, think of a false name! She can't know who I am and why I am really here!_ T.J gulped as he stared at the door knowing Karin was staring right back.

"You are…?" Karin prompted. She then reached to a baseball bat she kept in her room to ward off intruders. "You had better tell me or else I am calling campus security!"

_Be generally specific! Don't say your name, just why you are here! _T.J. thought as he gulped and cleared his windpipe and said, "I am one of the student helpers Hawstein arranged for to help those who asked for it in his class the other day." _Karin is in Penelope's class dumbass! Hawstein never really said anything about student helpers! He said he recommended that if you having trouble you should ask a student who is not! _ T.J's mind reminded him ever so readily, getting ready to be beaten up by another girl younger than him.

"Huh." Karin said as she wrapped her hand around the baseball bat. "I didn't hear about any student helpers assigned by Hawstein."

"Well pardon me if you spend all your time telling Penelope about coagulated cow's blood delicacies of the Nuer tribe in Africa instead of paying attention to the much more important mitosis and meiosis and the differences! I mean everyone got the vocabulary quiz right on those except for you!" T.J. yelled to the door.

_There is only one person besides Hawstein that would ask for Penelope AND know the results to last week's vocabulary quiz-That damn Membrane! _ Karin thought as she wrapped her hand firmly on the bat and opened the door. No one insulted her Anthropology studies and lived to tell about it. **"That's it!"** Karin yelled as she opened the door, in full Celtic battle style, with a baseball bat she had to use on New York University's intramural spring baseball team. "You are going to pay, you narrow-minded, beaker –huffing, perfectly-super-glued haired, sucking Hawstein's dickhead, asswipe , demon child of Sin City's only pastor, Mustang driving, perverted city slicker tainting an innocent and pure hearted girl, baby boomer ABBA blaring pathetic man!" Karin yelled swinging the bat at T.J's head as he ducked and hid behind the plant in the hall.

"Let me explain, Simmons is the one that blares ABBA not me! I'm more of a Led Zeppelin man!" T.J. yelled as he saw a few other girls peer their heads out the window to see Karin beat up a Professor's assistant.

"Ha ha ha. You are more of a Led Zeppelin man. I would think you would like that Cat's in the Cradle song. The silver spoon one. Seems more like you." Karin said.

T.J. got up from the plant and looked around. He pulled off his gloves and got ready to smack Karin upside the head and get his point across. He had had just about enough from her and he was ready to fight her once and for all. He was trying to help Penelope study for the hardest test Professor Hawstein was about to give out and she was not going to fail if he could help it. In fact, the reason Hawstein had T.J. take through notes of each class was so he could write the finals for him while Hawstein worked on some of his latest projects. He wasn't going to tell it to Karin, but how he _really_ planned to help her study is have her take the final from the original copy he had written then T.J. would correct it and have her fix her own errors, when she was correcting, Penelope was going to be able to do it open book. However, she was to tell no one that she saw the final before anyone else. He looked back at Karin and knew what Penelope was going to have to deny her if she kept up the act she was doing now. As the next swing from a girl who thought she was a Celtic warrior princess with a baseball bat as a sword came crashing down on him, he rolled out of the way and got up.

"Why don't you take your beatings like a man?" Karin said.

"Because I already have you jealous angry closeted dyke bitch!" T.J. yelled at Karin holding up his scarred hands. "I was forced to be beaten by angry nuns because I didn't think like someone else wanted me to! I just have a goose-egg bump on my forehead from your shitty baseball bat attempt on my life because you don't like the fact Penelope is going out with me instead of you huh?"

With this insult to her sexuality, Karin threw down the baseball bat and got ready to try her green-belt level of kung fu on T.J. Membrane. Unfortunately for her, T.J. knew basic level street fighting from having lived in Las Vegas and having a bad habit of heading into the dark underbelly that was brightly lit from the Vegas Strip and from having met more than his share of unsavory characters in New York City. Karin came running at him head on and as soon as she did, he grabbed her and threw her on the ground flat on her back. He leaned down and looked at her shocked face and smiled. "You know I do not look like I would be one to whoop your ass like I just did, but I am. I lived in Las Vegas when I was little and knew plenty of people in the seedy underbelly who wanted to kick my ass for who my father was, so I had to learn quickly on my feet how to defend myself. Also you are a girl, so the basic self defense move I would have done was null and void. However, your misguided rage at me caused you to make a foolish fighting move. Pity. I was going to let Penny let you see the final but now," T.J. took a dramatic and ironic sigh. "You do not. Shame. You could have passed." He then looked out at the window and smiled. "I guess talking about how tasty cow blood is isn't as important as paying attention to ummm…. _**Pass your class and get your Bachelor's when you are supposed to**__._ Now, can you please tell me where Penny is?"

"Fuck you!" Karin said.

"No thanks. Anyway, where is Penelope?" T.J. asked calmly. He cracked his knuckles to show he meant business.

"She is out talking to the counselor for her classes next year. She was going to see if she could take the next part of Hawstein's class. I think it is because of YOU, you pointy haired freak! Did you make that "M" shape as homage to your Membrane name?" Karin sassed.

"Thanks for the information, now sot off!" T.J. said walking to the student union. His hatred for Penelope's roommate deepened, he took his backpack and headed over to hopefully find Penelope and get right away to help her "study" how some would call "cheating".

As he turned into the student union, there was a bunch of students that were standing at the jukebox playing ABBA's "Dancing Queen". He knew of only a few people in New York University that _still_ liked bad disco from nearly a decade past and looked over to see Simmons. _Keep cool T.J. maybe he doesn't notice you or he still hasn't forgiven you for being absorbed into REAL science. And besides, he's working at the Natural History Museum as a tour guide…what is he doing here?_ As he thought this, Simmons looked over and waved. "Hey! Hawstein Jr! It's me! Your old dorm mate!"

"Damn!" T.J. whispered as he walked over carrying a blatant faux-sweet smile. "How is my old college roommate today?"

"Fine." T.J. said as he gritted his teeth in annoyance. _I am trying to find Penelope here! Can't he leave me alone for ONE minute? _"What are you doing here? I thought you were working at the Natural History Museum?"

"Yeah. But Hawstein asked me to be a tutor for some of the freshmen. I was the 2nd best in his class." Simmons smiled.

"You were only that because you cheated off of me." T.J. said annoyed. "Besides, I have an appointment with someone here soon."

"That purple haired chick? You are going to go all the way?" Simmons asked.

"WHAT?" T.J. yelled in shock. "No, Penelope is going to wait until we are going steady. Hell, I want to spend the rest of my life with her and help her improve the lives of children everywhere!"

"Oh T.J., I am glad you feel the same way as me!" Penelope said as she walked right behind him and hugged him.

"OOOOOOOOOOFFFFFFF!" T.J. yelled as he was held hostage in a bear hug by Penelope.

"I see you have your own problems to deal with here. I'll let you two be." Simmons said as Penelope took T.J.'s hand and drug him over to a new coffee shop that had opened down by Central Park.

"Come on dear, I don't want to be overheard by other students." Penelope said. "I have a feeling you are going to give me the actual final as a practice."

"How did you know?" T.J. asked confused.

"I know you too well. You swore so many times to help me succeed in my dream. Also Hawstein said you were writing it and you told me you were so glad you were asked to write the final. So I put all those factors together and figured that you would give me the actual final you wrote." Penelope said. "Anyway, come on, Central Perk has some of the best coffee in the city." She then dragged him into the coffee shop and sat down at a table in the corner and placed her backpack down. "Stay here and set up for the faux final and I'll get us two mocha cappuccinos."

"Groovy!" T.J. said as Penelope put her palm to her face as she smiled and walked up to get the cappuccinos.

"Cut out the retro talk and just get ready to quiz me for the final." Penelope said as she got in line to get a cappuccino.

T.J. walked over to the table and got out his copy of the final and set out a few pens on the table as he pulled out his mail he got from earlier that day he never opened. There were a few bills, a cable bill and a phone bill and a few letters. The first one was from Danni and the other was from Hawstein himself. _Professor Hawstein sent me a letter?_ He opened it and looked at it carefully. As he started to read it, Penelope came over with the mocha cappuccinos.

"Here it is." Penelope said looking at T.J. as he was handed the cappuccino. "What is it?" She asked.

"I am reading a letter Professor Hawstein sent me. Why couldn't he tell me? I live in his guest house." T.J said.

"Well, read on and tell me. The read me Danni's. I want to see what she has to say." Penelope said. "When you are done I am taking this final okay?"

"Okay. Here goes." T.J. said as she started to read the letter with great interest. "_'Dear Membrane, I am writing to tell you of a personal matter, but I guess I can trust you to tell Miss Keadver as well. You told me so much how you want to be with her. Anyway, I have just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and I was told I do not have much longer after this semester. My wife will be in charge of my estate after I die but she assured me both you and Penny could live where you are now-'"_

"Hawstein does know I HATE being called Penny, right?" Penelope asked.

"Yes he does, but he will call you that or Miss Keadver." T.J. said as he started to read on. "'_You are set to inherit my lab and my associates are to inform you as tutors until you get your PhD and become the Professor Membrane that you always wanted to be. I leave you a sum of my money so you can buy your own place. There is a place in Lower Manhattan that has a nice basement for a lab and so you can raise children with Penny someday. Goodness knows, I can see it now, you two making a pointy haired big headed boy and a purple haired girl. Somehow I can see her looking like your baby sister. Anyway, you need to know this before I pass. I will be there for finals and until my replacement is hired._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor Steven E. Hawstein.'"_ T.J. looked on and sighed. "That is sad."

"I know. You were one of his favorite students. I think you _were_ the favorite." Penelope said. "Now read Danni's"

"Okay, _'Dear T.J., I still have not forgiven you for being Hawstein's bitch. However, I want to let you know about what is going on. Franklin is getting married to a girl named Dorcus. I call her Dorky all the time and she gets mad. Martha is pregnant and it is a boy from the ultrasound. Dad was killing her when he found out. She said she wanted to get an abortion but Dad wouldn't let her. She made a big Roe V. Wade stink but she was made keep the baby. Josh is now in High School, the exact same one you went to. The nuns seem to not like him as much as they did Franklin. Although Josh says he wasn't treated as bad as you were. I'm fine and still hunting down ghosts of Vegas and Nevada past. Of course I see a lot of UFOs and read a lot of reports near the airport. I wonder why._

_Love,_

_Danni.'"_ T.J. read.

"I love your sister." Penelope said. "And I am sorry for what Karin says and does to you."

"I forgive you and her." T.J. said begrudgingly when it came to Karin. "Begin your practice final!"

"Good!" Penelope said as she started to write the answers down. As she worked on it, T.J. wondered how he was going to make it up to Danni and how he was going to deal with being an uncle to be. Also Hawstein was dying and he was going to start on his own. All these thoughts were pounding on him as he sipped his cappuccino and watched Penelope's practice final.


	8. Losing Hawstein

Awwwwww, you should know Invader Zim is not mine okay? I know I have a few more chapters to go before Dib and Gaz are born, but never fret, I love this story and I hope you readers will too(Looks out to see none). Anyway, I figured Professor Membrane's history would be fun to explore. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

"All done!" Penelope said as she handed the final to T.J. "I believe I am finished." She smiled as she handed the final back to T.J.

"Let me see my answer sheet!" T.J. said rather overly dramatic manner. He then pulled out the answer sheet and compared it to Penelope's results. "Good…" he said as he went over the first questions. "Nice… very good… WOW…I hardly explained that better myself…." He said as he looked over the questions. T.J. placed his pen down and sighed. "You know Penelope, I think there is only one person who did as well as you have in recent years in this class…"

"And I'm looking right at him, am I not?" Penelope laughed.

"Yep!" T.J. said proudly as if doing well in Hawstein's Biology 101 was one of the world's greatest honors. "You see, my dear sweet Penelope, Professor Hawstein did not make me his assistant and apparent heir for nothing." He said smugly. He was also looking at Penelope's smile with a deeper love. When they were together, it was better than the smell of test tubes and science. Hawstein was right; having a family is a little better, if not much, than being a scientist. He could imagine Penelope holding a boy who looked a lot like him but for some reason, with a head bigger than normal. T.J. shrugged it off as a daydream and got up.

"Where are you going honey?" Penelope asked as she saw T.J. get up.

"Getting you another cappuccino." T.J. said kissing Penelope on the cheek. "I know it seems to help you think."

"It's the caffeine." Penelope laughed. "For some reason, I always thought clearer when my heart rate was raised by ungodly amounts of caffeine."

"More blood on the brain perhaps?" T.J. suggested. "Or it may be psychological. Like how I seem to be able to do more work when I have a ventriloquist dummy nearby."

"Okay…" Penelope gasped in revulsion. "That is…umm…" She said as she put her hand back behind her head, trying to keep T.J. from getting offended.

She was worried that if she said something, he would get mad and, maybe in an extreme case, dump her, or depressed and give up on science and Penelope did not want that at all. She could tell T.J. had a lot of potential and if he tried, he could fix many of the problems and maybe come up with something to prevent an oil crisis of the 1970's. Penelope may have been a young child back at the time, but she remembered it all too well. _I know T.J. will be a good husband one day. I know he has not asked me yet, but I know he will._ Penelope thought with a giggle. She then looked at T.J. Membrane's long pointy "M" shaped hair and smiled. _He would look better if he did not keep his coat collar up so high… and those gloves all the time, he must get hot in the summer, then again, he grew up in a desert climate, so I do not know. I love him so much anyway. _Before she was aware of it, T.J. had come back with a cappuccino for Penelope.

"I got you another cappuccino." T.J. said as he bent down and kissed Penelope on the cheek. "I hope you like it."

"I do already." Penelope said as she kissed him back. "So, any plans for this summer?" She asked.

"Whatever they are," T.J. said with a tone that suggested he was love struck by Cupid's broad headed arrows, "They will be with you." He said as he bent down and kissed Penelope's hand. "Although I do not know how much time I will get free when Hawstein passes. I mean, I will be at his labs a lot, working to solve humanity's problems and keeping that huge thing up. I might even get my own TV show. I would call it, "Probing the Membrane of Science." T.J. laughed. "Get it Penelope?" When he looked over at Penelope, he saw she had a rather stoic blank and angry face on. "What is it my love?" T.J. asked. 

"Now, you are not going to spend all of your time in Hawstein's labs." Penelope said as she smacked him on the nose.

"But Penny…" T.J. said, his scientific desires and career goals were speaking up.

"Don't you 'Penny' me!" Penelope said as she reached across the table and punched T.J. in the nose with a power one would not expect coming from a 5' 5", skinny framed young woman.

"**OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW**!" T.J. yelled, "I think you may have broken my nose!!!!!!!!!!!" He yelled in pain.

"Oh!" Penelope said as she got a bunch of napkins from the dispenser on the table. "Hold this still until the bleeding stops." She said as she began tending to his wounds that she inflicted on him. "Let me look in my backpack, I always pack a first aid kit there…" She said as she began to shuffle through her messenger bag for the large white first aid kit she kept in there. "I got certified in first aid when I was 13. Don't you worry about this one bit? I treated worse than a broken nose. My father got into a bad scrape one time when he was hunting." 

"'Neah?" T.J. asked, trying to say 'yeah', but a bloody nose was preventing him.

"Yeah." Penelope said as she got out some bandages to set the broken nose so it would heal. "He almost caught hypothermia when he fell into the icy Susquehanna River. A careless hunter in the nearby area had shot him in the foot. I was able to stop the bleeding, remove the bullet, and keep him from getting hypothermia in time to get him to the nearest hospital." Penelope said. "I was 17 then. So, a broken nose is nothing for me."

"Fanks for fixing my nose." T.J. said as Penelope put on the bandages.

"There." Penelope said as she put the final bandages on. "Now in a few weeks, you should be fine. Your nose will be bent out a little bit from the scar, but other than that, you will be your ol' fine looking Membrane self." Penelope smiled. She then bent down close to T.J. with a smile and kissed his nose. "And a kiss to make it all heal a little faster." Penelope winked.

"I dink I dill 'eal up a 'wittle 'paster "T.J. smiled as he pulled Penelope close and kissed her.

She pulled away and smiled. "Kissing you with a nose full of gauze doesn't feel too good, but who cares?" Penelope laughed as she bent down and kissed T.J. again. Penelope packed up her first aid kit and got up. "How about I walk you back to your house and I can help you with your thesis paper? Goodness knows that your grammar is a nightmare."

"Danks" T.J. said. "Did you know id dwas going to be published in de scientific journal?" T.J. said, the bandages hindering his ability to speak all too well, but he could not stop bragging about Hawstein getting his work published before he even had a PhD.

"I know, I know…" Penelope sighed as she got up and took her cup of cappuccino and her bag and handing T.J his. "You said that ever since Hawstein gave you the assignment. Penelope laughed with an exasperated sigh.

They walked back to Hawstein's place hand in hand, smiling. They knew they had a special connection and could feel that they would be together the rest of their lives. Penelope smiled and held T.J. as close as they could when they were walking down the street. T.J. was happy he had a woman like Penelope and knew he had to make his move soon. If he did not, the relationship they had might fall apart like what happened with Sharee or some of the other relationships he had. _Maybe where I went wrong with Sharee was not only the overworking of myself when I should have been paying attention to her, maybe it was also throwing the sex around like nothing. I will go slowly with Penny-I mean Penelope. Do NOT call her Penny to her face again._ He thought as he rubbed the bandages on his nose remembering Penelope's ability to summon superhuman like strength for a woman of her size. T.J. smiled and took Penelope's hand as they turned the corner to walk down the road to Hawstein's house. T.J. then moved his hand lower down to Penelope's waist.

"You dnow, I've deen dinking…" T.J. said as he snorted some of the mucus and blood back into his nose.

"What is it my love?" Penelope asked

"Maybe we dhould move in together…" T.J. said with a slight blush. "I mean-I love you so much, I dshouldn't dave do put up dith Karin's…."

"Attitude towards you?" Penelope finished for him.

"Yeah…" He smiled at her. "So what do you say? You would be preventing me from my notorious overworking habit." T.J. laughed.

"Well, if it will keep you from killing yourself from overwork, I guess I will." Penelope laughed. "And it also helps I am madly in love with you and I want to spend every waking moment of my existence with you as well. I guess that is a perk to it."

"Yeah." T.J. smiled as they approached the gate to the Hawstein Manor. "What the-?" He asked as he saw a bunch of people in black walking around the premises. "What is going on?" T.J. asked.

"Looks like Hawstein finally passed away." Penelope said stoically.

While she did like Hawstein as a professor, she did not care for him much beyond that. However, she also knew T.J. respected Hawstein with all of his being. She could see that by saying, 'Looks like Hawstein finally passed away' she had brought upon him great sadness. He was like the father T.J. always wanted. T.J. had renounced all ties with his birth family and Penelope knew that T.J. would have rather been born Hawstein's son, but fate had made him Reverend Timothy Membrane's son. Penelope could see that T.J. was shook up about Hawstein's passing. Soon, a woman in a black dress and wearing a sunhat with a black veil walked up to them, holding a handkerchief in one hand, wiping away tears with it.

"Mrs. Hawstein!" T.J. yelled as the woman came up to him, holding his shoulders crying.

"Oh! Membrane…it's you…" Mrs. Hawstein said as she placed her head on T.J.'s shoulders.

"What is it Mrs. Hawstein?" He asked as he put his hand on her back, trying to comfort her.

"Oh, it was so sudden!" Mrs. Hawstein cried. "He was working in his lab in a desperate effort to cure his cancer. You see the doctors told him the other day that he only had until about July before he passed. As you can surmise, he got desperate and began working non-stop in his labs, well I should say _**your**_ labs now Membrane, well he began trying every known cure for cancer in the books. He then began to try a few things no one in their right minds would. As you can guess, it did not help anything at all. He tested a new concoction last night and when I woke up this morning, I found him passed out dead in the chair he tested the drug in. On his notepad he wrote, _"I hope to God this works. If not, I need to prepare myself for the slim chance there actually is an afterlife. Well, if this does not work, maybe Membrane and Miss Keadver can find a cure from my mistakes. Who knows, with their brains, they may find a cure for all diseases…_ And that was apparently his last words before he died."

"What kind of cancer did the late Professor Hawstein have Mrs. Hawstein?" Penelope asked.

Mrs. Hawstein mopped up a few tears with her handkerchief and looked to Penelope. "He died of a brain tumor. Apparently, what was killing him was cancer cells in his lungs spreading to his brain. The cancers were in inoperable spots, and by the time the lung cancer was discovered, it was after the tumor in his brain was. The doctors said that the tumor would case a degeneration of his brain, eating away at his cortex. He would be a vegetable before he died if he let it progress naturally." Mrs. Hawstein said to Penelope.

"Wow." Penelope said. "I guess a man like Professor Hawstein could not let something like that happen to him, could he?"

"Nope." T.J. said as he held back tears. _I cannot cry. Even though my mentor is dead, I cannot cry. I must not. I know he would not want me to. I must carry on his work. I must._ With this thought, he ran to the labs and found the chair Hawstein was in when he died. "This must be the place…,"He whispered as he placed his hands on the chair. It had a certain reverence that T.J. could not quite explain. It was as if Hawstein was still there, watching over him. Soon, he heard footsteps and he turned around.

"T.J., honey?" Penelope asked as she walked the stairs down into Hawstein's old labs that were now the foundation for the future Membrane Labs.

"You know, I thought of him like a father…,"T.J. whispered.

"I know darling." Penelope said as she walked up to him and held him close to her.

"It feels weird." T.J. whispered. "I now have almost all of the Hawstein estate, but I feel like trading it all so Professor Hawstein would come back to life. I wanted to tell him how much I respected him. How much I saw him like a father. More of a father than my own father even. I wanted to tell him all of that." 

"Well T.J., darling, I believe that he heard you wherever he is." Penelope said as she brushed his arm lovingly.

"Yeah…" T.J. whispered as he looked around Hawstein's labs. "So this is the new Membrane labs huh?" He whispered to himself. "I never thought it would be so soon."

"Neither did I." Penelope said as she kissed him on the cheek.

_It is now or never Membrane. Remember what Hawstein said to you. Penelope will be a fine wife. I have to ask her. I love her so much and I want to spend the rest of our lives together, no matter how long it will be. If Hawstein's death is teaching me anything, it is to seize the moment, treasure each day and treasure loved ones. _With this thought, T.J. took Penelope's hand, bent down on one knee, and kissed her hand.

"What is it T.J.?" Penelope asked puzzled.

"If this funeral is teaching me anything besides not to try to find a cure in a panic, it is to seize the moment and make the best with loved ones. So what I am trying to say is, "Penelope Athena Keadver, will you marry me? Sorry if I don't have a ring right now. It just came to me."

"Oh, T.J., of course I will marry you and don't worry about the ring, I don't care." Penelope said kissing T.J. on the cheek.

"How sweet." Mrs. Hawstein said. She then pulled something off of her left hand. "Here, you can have the ring Steve gave me when he asked me to marry him. I don't think he will object." Mrs. Hawstein said as she placed the ring in T.J.'s hand to put on Penelope's hand.

"Thank you." T.J. and Penelope said.


End file.
